Who else can’t get enough of the monthly devotionals? These are such great resources for kick starting a Bible-reading habit, or for gaining a new perspective on the Word. Each of them have been so well written and so easy to follow along with that they would be great for the new or young Christian. But what I love most of all is when I sit down and start with the daily devotional and then get prompted to take it to the next level. What do I mean by that? I mean when I open myself up to hearing the voice of God speak directly to me through the passage prescribed for the day, or I heed the prompting of the Holy Spirit to read more, to study further or to turn to a different verse. Because my walk is different from everyone else’s walk and whilst I might get inspired by reading Day 7 in the Worship devotional for example, that’s just the starting point!
This is the way it happened for me earlier in the week. As usual I grabbed my bible, my devotional, my journaling supplies and my coffee and I prepared myself spiritually to spend some time in the Word. I cleared my mind of all the waiting chores, I prayed that the baby would sleep just a little while longer, and asked the Spirit to show me the lessons to be learned today. It didn’t happen straight away. I read through the verses I was up to for that day in the Worship devotional and it was all kinds of awesome, but it just didn’t speak to me in that ‘my eyes have been opened’ kind of way. But as I was looking at the stamp set and trying to figure out which verse I should journal from what I just read (because even if it didn’t immediately knock me over and turn me upside down it was still God’s word and I knew that meditating on it would only speak to me more) I was struck by the phrase waiting to be built from the stamps “worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness”. I knew that was a verse in the Bible, but it wasn’t one I had just read and I wondered where it came from. I did a quick search and found out it’s actually written 3 times, twice in the Psalms, and once more in 1 Chronicles. Turning to Psalm 29 I read David’s song of praise detailing the great power and majesty of the Lord and how our rightful response must be to worship Him. I did my first entry here by simply stamping out the phrase in different colours. This was one of those occasions where I had already journaled on the facing page and so I decided to chose my stamp colours based on what would coordinate together with the other entry. I used the stamps from the Worship devotional kit for all of it except ‘the Lord’ which I stamped with the Handcut Alpha stamp.
Next I turned to the first time the phrase was used in 1 Chronicles 16:29. I like to know a bit about the context it was used in so I read the whole chapter. Interestingly enough it’s very similar to Psalm 29, but I guess it’s written by the same person so perhaps that’s not so surprising. I didn’t want to just repeat the same design as my last entry so I read it over again to see what was speaking to me the most from this chapter. It seemed to me that there was a lot of repetition about ‘the nations’, ‘all the earth’, and ‘the world’ crying out in worship and it’s clear that David was writing this with a very global perspective in mind. This is particularly interesting because if you think about it David would never have traveled very far, and the Earth as we know it today was undiscovered according to his knowledge. So you know he must be writing from the direct revelation of God.
In my mind this entry called for a big map of the world stamp since the focus is clearly on God’s glory being made known throughout the nations, and the earth itself responding in worship.
Thirdly I went to Psalm 96 and read the whole chapter. Again it’s written almost exactly the same as the previous two chapters discussed and this alone speaks to me. It suggests that this song of praise must be really important if it’s repeated 3 times in the Bible. This time as I read I thought it focused more on the individual response to God. If 1 Chron 16 was about the nations worshiping God, then Psalm 96 is about each and every element that makes up the nations, ‘let the sea resound, and all that is in it’, ‘let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them’, and ‘let all the trees of the forest sing for joy’. What an awesome sight it will be on that day when every created thing will praise the Lord. Man, woman, animals, trees, grass, rocks… everything rejoicing before Him.
It might seem a bit cute to stamp out some animals praising God, but I imagine it’s going to be mind-blowingly awe-inspiring fear and jubilation when it happens for real!
So anyway, that was the journey I went on this week in the Word. It started with a stamp and it ended with a revelation about this God-created world we live in, and the rightful decree of worship that is due to Him. For me, this is what Bible journaling is all about.
Illustrated Faith Worship Kit | Illustrated Faith Homespun Alphabet Stamps | Illustrated Faith Genesis Collection: Mini Mint To Be, Mini Olive You, Typed One In A Melon, Wordfetti Black | StazOn Black Ink | Studio Calico Color Theory Stamp Ink | Studio Calico Party Animals Stamp | Neat and Tangled Origami Map Stamp | Kellie Stamps: Stand Tall and Alpha Nut stamps | washi tape | Faber-Castell Pink Madder Lake Big Brush Marker | Watercolors
Awesome thoughts explaining your journey with this one day’s devotion . I have struggled with the same process “taking it to the next level” . I recently purchased the Brave & Free set and am loving the basic verses but so far I’ve just written in my Faith Journal and simply stamped the words. With the previous devotional sets there were many examples on this site for a “quick start” but I’ve not found more than references to brave/bold. Guess I didn’t think of myself as being particularly brave or bold (I’m primarily stay-at-home-retiree with physical handicaps) so I don’t share my Faith Art. I’ve felt the Lord telling me He has something different for me this time.
You have encouraged me to spend more time, prayer, and effort, not just copying someone else’s work.
God sees each of us individually and uses His Holy Spirit to inspire us. After pondering your comments, and completing 3 days of devotions I think God has a new approach for me to use this time, Think I’ll make a separate journal with more personal examples or application and not do my usual Bible Marginaling (don’t think that’s a word :)
Thank you for your wonderful words. May God continue to bless your Illustrated Faith.
Hi Sue!
I definitely think the devotionals are a great tool but not all of them are going to impact me in the same way at the same time. We’re all in different places in our lives with different challenges facing us. I think I get the most out of them when I try and figure out how that particular day’s devotional can speak to me in my life right where I am now. That often involves going beyond the suggested verses, or going completely in a different direction altogether! And THAT’s what I need to get into my journaling bible, it’s that true and heartfelt response to the Word that is worship, not just focusing on how I can use the stamps! LOL!
PS. I love the term ‘Bible Margining’ I might use that!! ;-)
Hi your bible is beautiful! I just wanted to know which bible are you using?